Tips for Hamburgers Please!?

Question

I'm looking for all kinds of good and new advice on making good hamburgers. Firstly, I would like to know some good marinades you put your meat in...if you say beer or wine, please specify the type. Next I need some good tips on how to form the patties...mine always come out looking funky. Any suggestions greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Sorry... I didn't mean marinade... I was thinking steaks... I meant just the mix you use for your burger meat before grilling... sorry... thanks!

Answer 1

Raw hamburger patties do not stand up well to marinades since, of course, they are made of ground beef and will fall apart if left to soak in liquid.

Here are a few suggestions:

Fresh or dried herbs and spices
Dehydrated or fresh minced onion and garlic
Seasoning mixes for soups or salad dressings
Your favorite cheese, such as Blue cheese, goat cheese, Gorgonzola, Feta, Stilton, Cheddar, or pepperjack
Prepared sauces including barbecue sauce, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, Hoisin sauce, plum sauce, oyster sauce, salsa, or salad dressing
Other tidbits like olives, capers, chopped tomatoes, diced chiles, crumbled bacon, or minced ham

You can add just about anything you like to your burgers, but whatever you do, DON'T mix salt into the beef, especially if you're not going to grill the patties right away. Salt will extract moisture from the meat, leaving you with bone-dry burgers. Instead, sprinkle each burger with salt right before you put it on the grill. Use a light touch when combining seasonings and tidbits with the ground beef. If you mix it too much, your burgers will be dense and heavy. Once you are done leave it in the refrigerator for several hours to allow all the flavors to mingle and intensify.

For juicier burgers, make those patties nice and thick! The more fat your ground beef has in it, the more your burgers will shrink, so either buy extra-lean beef, or make the patties quite a bit bigger than the buns.

To form the patties, wet your hands a little to keep the meat from sticking to them. I just roll a nice sized ball and then pat it flat to the desired thickness and shape. You can form the patties ahead of time; just stack them on a plate with waxed paper between each one, and cover the whole plate with plastic wrap before you put it in the refrigerator.

Answer 2

Do not use a very coarse grind for your patties. Use a slightly higher fat content for charcoal grilling than if you are cooking them in a skillet or indoor grill. On an outdoor grill the fat will drip through and keep the burger more moist. To reduce the fat inside, tip the skillet and drain the fat just before they are done.

To shape your patties form the meat into a rough ball and press firmly into shape using patty papers or waxed paper for easier handling. If you can easily see the grind pattern, they will fall apart; press together better. Make the patties slightly larger in diameter than you want; the meat will shrink in and plump as it cooks. Don't press on the burgers with a spatula while they are cooking if you want them to stay moist.

You can add just about anything you want to the meat before you make the patties: eggs, bread crumbs, oatmeal, peppers, onions, cheese, etc.. If you add dry ingredients or a lot of ingredients, you will need to add egg and/or other liquid to help keep the patties from breaking up. Beer, wine, milk, barbeque or horseradish sauce are just a few things you could use to add moisture. If you want to put your cheese in the patty instead of on top of the burger, it will be less messy if your cheese is surrounded by the meat.

Try blending other meats in with the groud beef before you form the patties such as ground ham, ground pork, sausage or ground turkey.

If you have guests, make sure they know you have added something different in case they have allergies.

Answer 3

I don't marinate mine, but I cut up about a quarter pound of Havarti cheese into small cubes and mix that into a pounds of hamburger. It super good when you grill it. I also like McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning sprinkled on them before grilling.

When I form my patties I roll the hamburger into a log and then divide the log into however many burgers you're making. Then you just need to compress the patty lightly, it's pretty much already a circle.

Answer 4

I wouldn't call it a marinade but this is what I normally do -- add all of my normal seasonings (coarse ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, Ms. Dash, etc... sometimes I add finely chopped fresh onions and bell peppers) and then add Worcestershire Sauce to it and mix it all together well and let stand in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

As far as forming them, once the mixture comes out of the refrigerator I always remix everything to make sure it's mixed up well and then I take out a handful of the mixture and then form it into a ball and then put it down on a glass plate and use a fork to flatten it out while constantly turning the plate and keeping my other hand on the outer edge shaping it while I am pushing it flat with the fork. They come out perfectly round and evenly flat every time. Once I get them shaped, I gently remove it from the plate and put them straight on the heat -- (Stove/BBQ, etc...). I never make them up first and cook them later --- I make them up as I cook them.

Answer 5

I use minced garlic, Mrs. Dash and a seasoning packet from a packet of chicken flavored ramen soup mix. Heat the above in about 1/4 cup of water to mix flavors and pour over you meat. You can season the meat with the Mrs.Dash if you want. I use plastic bags over my hand and just make a ball of meat then smash flat or you can leave them a little bigger. I think Tupperware sells a hamburger smasher thing, my mom used to have one and it mad pretty uniform patties. Check out there website I am sure they still it.

Answer 6

Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or dark beer (Guinness is good but expensive). I don't use these for marinades but often include one or the other into the burger mix. You can also use barbecue sauce or steak sauce in the same way.

Forming the patties--make it into a ball (like you're making a snowball) then flatten it between your palms--gently--until it's the thickness that you want.

Answer 7

If you like blue cheese, mix ground beef w/ 2-3 oz. crumbled blue cheese (for 4 patties), add salt, pepper and worst. sauce, mix thoroughly and form into patties. Grill and enjoy! Oh, and get HIGH fat meat - the burger will be super juicy and yummy!

Answer 8

I put Worcestershire sauce in mine. Make sure you add an egg, it will help hold the meat together when you form the patties. I just use my hand, make a ball and then pat it flat.

Answer 9

Lots of great ideas! One suggestion...when forming your patties with your hands, don't "play" with them too long, it causes them to fall apart on the grill. Just grab a handful of meat, form the patty & leave it alone. The more you handle it, the more apt it is to crumble.

P.S. In our house, generally the uglier the food looks, the better it tastes - presentation is not everything!

Answer 10

I think there is a recipe on the dry Lipton Onion Soup box.

I think you can make good patties if you mix in a little

Campells Mushroom soup (no water added) and a small

amt. of cracker crumbs: also, add one egg if you wish.

To form patties, if you want them to


be perfect, use a round mold.